Gauge with plural adjusting means for sheet metal working presses



July 12, 1966 N. A. GUARINO 3,260,087

GAUGE WITH PLURAL ADJUSTING MEANS FOR SHEET METAL WORKING PHESSES Filed July 19, 1963 ml W United States Patent 3,260,087 GAUGE WITH PLURAL ADJUSTING MEANS FOR SHEET METAL WORKING PRESSES Nicholas A. Guarino, 1825 78th Court, Elmwood Park, Ill. Filed July 19, 1963, Ser. No. 296,321 Claims. (Cl. 72-36) This invention relates to gauges for sheet metal working presses and more specifically to a novel means for mounting and adjusting the gauges with respect to the brake press dies.

The invention is an improvement over my previous invention shown and described in U.S. Patent 2,924,260.

In the previous construction, which incidentally has gained wide acceptance in the industry, the gauge functioned extremely well in conditions within the range of adjustment of the gauge per se. The gauge was provided with a mounting on the crossbar supported on the brake press base portion. Thus limited adjustment was provided from the mounting bar within the range of adjustment of the gauge itself. I

A general object of the invention is to provide a novel mechanism for mounting and adjusting each gauge independently and wherein said mounting positions the gauge ahead of or behind the support bar of the brake press.

The invention comprehends a novel gauge for press brakes wherein the body portion of the gauge and the entire support frame therefor are formed to provide a wide range of adjustment.

An important object of the invention is to provide a novel shock absorbing mechanism for yieldably resisting the impacts imposed upon the gauge due to repeated engagement with the sheet metal as it is inserted into the press.

The invention comprehends in a gauge for a press brake novel means for controlling lateral loading on the gauge.

These and other objects and advantages inherent in and encompassed by the invention will become readily apparent from the specification and the drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the mechanism in association with a press fragmentarily shown and the work piece shown in section;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the novel mechanism with the press shown fragment-arily in section;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the mechanism taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2, and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of FIG- URE 3.

Describing the invention in detail the press brake generally designated 2 is of any conventional construction as well known to those skilled in the art and comprises a bed or anvil portion 3 to which is attached the anvil or stationary die -4 and against which operates a reciprocating male die 5 for bending the work piece 6 which may be in the form of a piece of sheet metal entered between the dies.

The position of the bend in the sheet metal is determined by the gauge mechanism generally characterized 7 mounted on the support or mounting bar -8 which runs behind the length of the anvil generally parallel thereto. The bar 8 is mounted upon the side frames 9 of the bed of the press. It will be understood that there are several of these gauging mechanisms on the support 8 and each mechanism comprises a frame 10 elongated transversely of the bottom die 4.

There are provided a pair of clamps 11 and 12 beneath the frame 10. The upper clamp 11 is somewhat of inverted U-section having an upper Wall 13 suitably secured as by bolts 14 to the pads '15 on the bottom 16 (FIG. 2) of the base 16' of the frame 10 of the gauge mechanism. The upper wall 13 is integrally formed with the lateral edges 19 and 20 (FIG. 1) of a support beam or bar 21 which extends lengthwise transversely of the die 4. The lower edges of flanges 17 and 18 are provided with inturned flanges 23, 24 which extend beneath the horizontal portion 25 of beam 21 while the bottom side 26 of the upper wall 13 rides upon the top side 27 of portion 25.

The T-shaped bar has its vertical leg portion 29 extending downwardly through slot 30 defined between the inner edges of the bottom flanges 23, 24 and the lower edge of leg portion 29 is secured to the top side of a top wall 30' of the bottom clamp 12 which is rectangular in cross-section and has side walls 31, 32 and bottom wall 33 defining an aperture 34 receiving bar 8 therethrough.

The bottom wall 33 supports a clamping plate 35 which is urged upwardly against the underside of bar 8 by wing bolts 37 threaded through the bottom wall 33. Thus each gauge is secured in position longitudinally of the bar 8 parallel to the die 4.

The general or rough adjustment of the gauge toward' and away from the die 4 is obtained by sliding the gauge on bar 21.

The gauge is secured in position on bar 21 by the locking bolts 39 threaded as at 40 through flange 18 of the upper clamp and the inner ends of the bolts 39 bears against the outer side 41 of a shock absorbing insert bar or member 42 which is made of metal or combination metal and plastic or elastomer material which has a high coefficient of friction and also is softer-than the support bar and the clamp and gauge which are formed of steel. The purpose of the bar 42 which may be of brass or zinc or even aluminum is to take up wear and also absorb lateral forces or shocks imposed on the gauge by repeated stroking of the gauge block 50 which is carried in the jaw 51 of the gauge. It will be noted that the gauge block 50 has a forward projection 52 at one side of the gauge mechanism and in being struck by the work imposes a torque load on the gauge mechanism. This loading is destructive of the close fitting tolerances of the parts of the gauge and therefore to counteract this the insert 42 is provided.

The base 16' of frame 10 is provided with upturned gibs 55 which are longitudinally kerfed or slotted and provided guideways 56, 56 which are defined by bottom substantially flat surfaces 57 and upwardly inwardly sloping lateral surfaces 58. Each slot or guideway 56 admits a complementary guide lug 59 on the adjacent side of a keeper 60 which is admitted between the lugs 55, each lug having a diagonal side surface 61 paralleling andopposing the associated surface 58 and a bottom surface 61 which engages the associated surfaces 57. One gib 59 has its side 61 engaging the side 58 of the related guideway. The other gib is engaged by a bar 65 of fiat metal or plastic or the like, the metal being brass, copper, zinc, etc., which is softer than the steel of the gibs. Bar 65 is connected to or is snugged against its mating surface 58 by a plurality of adjusting means in the form of bolts or screws 66 threaded at 67 through the related gib 55, the outer ends of screws 66 having locking means thereon in the form of nuts 61 threaded on the screws and tightened against the external side 68 of the related gib after appropriate adjustment of the shock absorber and guide bar 65.

The keeper '60 which carries the jaw 51 as set forth in the beforementioned patent, is connected to an adjusting screw 70, which is rotatably connected to the keeper as stated in the patent, and threads through an upstanding end wall 71 on the base 16, the screw having a locking ring 72 threaded thereon which is adapted to be J tightened against the back side of the end wall 71 of the base after adjustment is made. The screw has a crank 73 connected thereto which includes a calibrated Vernier scale 74 registering against an indicator 75- carried on the keeper.

It will also be realized that various forms of the invention has been disclosed and that novel mechanism is provided to resist the destructive shock loads imposed upon the gauge and which utilizes the soft metal to align the parts and take up wear.

It will also be relaized that various forms of the invention, in view of the foregoing disclosure, will now become readily apparent to those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a press brake gauge having a body portion, a keeper interlocked therewith and slidable generally horizontally longitudinally thereof, means for mounting said gauge for movement bodily toward and away from an associated press and comprising a longitudinal beam of T- section having a horizontal portion with top and side edges in a vertical leg, a holder on the body portion having a top wall slidably engaging said top edge and having laterally spaced flanges flanking said horizontal portion, one of said flanges engaging an adjacent side edge, and shock absorbing means interposed between the other flange and other side edge.

2. The invention according to claim 1 and a tool mounted to the keeper and having a work engaging portion projecting laterally of the keeper and developing lateral impacts upon the gauge with the engagement of work thereag-ainst, and further shock absorbing means interposed between the keeper and the body portion in opposition to the impact loads.

3. A brake press gauge comprising a first mounting bar extending generally parallel to a brake press, a second mounting bar extending perpendicularly to the first means interconnecting said bars for positioning of the second bar along the length of the first said second bar being T- shaped and having a dependent leg and an upper horizontal portion, a brake press gauge above the second bar, a holder connected to the gauge and having opposing portions embracing said horizontal portion and further having re-entrant flanges from the portions thereof underposed with respect to said horizontal portion, said flanges being of less depth than said dependent leg and passing between the first bar and said horizontal portion attendant to said gauge being positioned along the length of the second bar.

4. In a press brake gauge, a support, a gauge movably mounted thereon and having parts adjustable toward and away with respect to the associated brake press.

5. In a brake press, a gauge, and means mounting said gauge from the press for bodily movement toward and away with respect to the press and laterally therealong.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,581,602 1/1952 Pulsifer 3083 2,924,260 2/1960 Guarino 7236 3,030,155 4/1962 Bu ll alld 308-3 3,054,645 9/1962 Evans 308-3 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

R. D. GREFE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A PRESS BRAKE GAUGE HAVING A BODY PORTION, A KEEPER INTERLOCKED THEREWITH AND SLIDABLY GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, MEANS FOR MOUNTING SAID GAUGE FOR MOVEMENT BODILY TOWARD AND AWAY FROM AN ASSOCIATED PRESS AND COMPRISING A LONGITUDINAL BEAM OF TSECTION HAVING A HORIZONTAL PORTION WITH TOP AND SIDE EDGES IN A VERTICAL LEG, A HOLDER ON THE BODY PORTION HAVING A TOP WALL SLIDABLY ENGAGING SAID TOP EDGE AND HAVING LATERALLY SPACED FLANGES FLANKING SAID HORIZONTALLY PORTION, ONE OF SAID FLANGES ENGAGING AND ADJACENT SIDE EDGE, AND SHOCK ABSORBING MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE OTHER FLANGE AND OTHER SIDE EDGE. 